Trust
by Bardicsidhe
Summary: An extremely short and slightly AE fiction, involving Jounouchi’s escape from Malik’s influence. Malik is defeated…but as a lasting reminder, his powers have locked Jou permanently in his own mental prison. Or has he…?


**Title:** Trust  
**Status:** Completed July 14, 2003. _Updated 12.17.04_  
**Rating: G  
****Summary:** An extremely short fiction, involving Jounouchi's escape from Malik's influence. Malik is defeated…but as a lasting reminder, his powers have locked Jou permanently in his own mental prison. Or has he…? With Yami's help, perhaps he can escape after all.

* * *

Jounouchi collapsed into Mai's arms with the boneless, easy grace of a cat. She would have recoiled automatically, but for the fact that the stricken blond's eyes were frozen open in shock, with pupils contracted to pinpricks and an expression so empty that whatever there was of _Jou _left within...he was hidden too deeply to make an issue of it.

She relaxed. There was no earthly reason to pretend. Not now. Her grip tightened.

Honda was at her elbow in a flash, and together, the pair of them dragged their nearly lifeless friend's body to safety. Yuugi leapt after them, the rumble of the pier beneath his feet signalling that time was of the essence.

Higher, stable ground surged beneath their feet as the ocean rocked with the power of the playing field's collapse into the water. A colossal splash, and a sucking gurgle that would last for long minutes as the sea claimed Malik's abomination.

Mai cradled Jounouchi's head in her lap, tangled on the rough concrete bier beside the unconscious blond.

_Come back, Jou. I swear...if you're not all right, I'll...I'll..._

"Mai?"

Her heart leapt. And fell. It was Honda. She looked up. "He's still not awake."

"I know. Come on...maybe we can find him some shade, or something." The tall boy's voice was as frantic as hers, and as desperate to help. "You know, make him comfortable?" He knelt, and only reluctantly did Mai relinquish her grip to let him gather up Jounouchi's lifeless form from her lap. With a stab of guilt, she turned and searched the faces surrounding her for Yuugi's. This was his friend...

He shot her a look of panicked worry, but he was rooted to the spot, snagged by Anzu as he was. Kaiba looked on, and something behind his eyes flashed when the petite brunette buried her face in the dark fabric stretched over Yuugi's chest. He patted her shoulder awkwardly. Mai smiled in amused sympathy, and a wordless question passed between them.

_How is he? _Yuugi's eyebrows arched, his expression an open question mark.

Mai choked, and quickly hid it in a brilliant smile that brought an entire sunrise blooming on Yuugi's face in return. _He's fine._ She turned away before the expression had time to spoil.

He _wasn't_ fine. And she wasn't sure if he'd ever be fine again.

_If I knew where that bastard who did this to him was...I'd kill him myself._ Her hands flexed, and she spun with a barely-contained hiss as fingertips brushed her shoulder.

Otogi.

"Who the hell are you?" _Wait_... "Otogi...Ryuuji? The Dungeon Dice Monsters creator?" She'd heard him make his plea that Jounouchi was in danger and they needed a ride...but until now, she'd never really _looked _at him.

"Yeah." The other's ponytail and dice earring bobbed as he nodded an affirmative. Mai resisted the nearly irresistable impulse to roll her eyes. Another wannabe punk. "And...?"

"Are you all right? You look really green..."

"...No. No, I'm fine," Mai interrupted him, and blinked as she closeted an unbidden wave of revulsion at the other's emerald green eyes. It wasn't his fault...sometimes nasty colors were genetic...but did he _need_ to wear makeup to bring attention to something that was already horrid?

She blinked, and the eyes that she had so reviled only a moment before were tender with concern.

_It's just nerves. I'm glad I didn't say any of that out loud...he's not so bad really..._

"Anyway,"Otogi coughed after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, "I just wanted to tell you thank you...for getting me and Honda and Jou's sister out of there...and getting us to the pier."

"You're welcome," Mai replied automatically, "no problem." _Since when do you like Jounouchi? I watched the game...you humiliated him._ Her shoulders tightened defensively. _What do you want?_

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked. As she knew he would.

_Besides leaving me alone? _Another obvious sniffle from Anzu's direction focused her attention and she gestured in the direction of the sound. "Rescue Yuugi...?"

Otogi's gaze followed her hand, and he snickered. "Yeah. Poor little Yuugi. I'll be right back." He strode off, the high, spiked cascade of dark hair swinging behind him in time to his hips. Despite herself, Mai's head tilted a little in an appreciative study of the slick-as-oil leather pants clinging to his rear end.

_Oh, get a grip on yourself._ She turned as a report from where Honda, Mokuba, and Shizuka watched over Jounouchi's quiet form. The bandages had come off - Shizuka's clear brown eyes were misting with pain at the sight of her beloved sibling's condition.

"Oh, please, big brother..._wake up_...don't leave me..." Shizuka snuggled against the fallen teenager's chest with a kittenish desire for warmth. Honda watched over them, his face a still mask of pain, and Mai's stomach twisted painfully. She knelt beside the slight figure Jounouchi's sister and rested a gentle palm of understanding between her shoulderblades...and touched Honda's hand by default, which was already there. Over Shizuka's head, their eyes met.

_Incredible,_ she mused, _is there _anyone_ who isn't worried to death over this big blond idiot?_

* * *

_Prisoner. Jounouchi flung himself against a wall that had become opaque and impassible since Malik's torture ceased. Locked in. He screamed, with a voice that should already be hoarse from screaming. Where were his friends? Before...at least he'd been able to see them...catch glimpses of them...and dart out when the walls weakened enough to shove through..._

_Was this Malik's final trick? A lasting, impenetrable barrier to keep him away from his friends for good?_

_He looked at his hands, doubled into fists as he battered at this impossible hurdle. They should have been bloodied...but they only ached with the same pain that suffused all of his body. Or what was left of his body._

_"Yuugi..." His palms opened, sliding down the wall as he crumpled next to the cold and hopeless wall. "I'm sorry...I failed ya. I said...I said I was your friend...but I couldn't even hold true to that." His cheeks dampened. "I deserve this. I'm not strong enough to be your friend."_

**"Jounouchi."**

_"Wh...wha...?" He looked up, and a presence strong enough to part even Jounouchi's waves of self-hatred filled the small, smooth-sided enclosure. "Who's there? Who is that?"_

**"Jounouchi...Jou." **_The voice grew tender as it used the familiar form of his name._** "You know me...even though we have never truly met. Until now...I have always been a part of your friend."**

_The presence changed, solidified, into a form that Jounouchi knew better than his own skin...different only through the eyes, which lacked the innocence that he counted as such an eternal part of his friend. This was Yuugi...or...rather...the part of Yugi that the Puzzle created. He thought. _

_"Yuugi...?" He asked, uncertain. The other youth shook his head._

**"Yami," **_He corrected, _**"Or at least, that is what your friend calls me. I am...the spirit of Yuugi's Millenium Puzzle."**

_The title sounded contrived, as though 'Yami' had created it to reassure him. But oh well. Jounouchi clung to it, lost already in the insanity surrounding him. "How did you get here?"_

**"Yuugi gave you his Puzzle...and in so doing...gave me to you as well."**

_"What...how...?"_

**"You do not remember." **_The violet gaze that locked with Jounouchi's was infinitely sad. _**"It does not matter. I can pass through these walls that Malik has placed around your mind. And I can help you escape them."**

* * *

Yuugi castOtogi a grateful smile as the taller youth gently pried Anzu loose from her deathgrip on the smaller boy's shoulders, and blind for comfort, the young woman collapsed happily enough against him. Kaiba seemed less a stone statue, suddenly, and stalked into the midst of the three with the imposing air of a territorial lion.

A gentle restraining hand laid across his arm, and in shock, Kaiba looked down to meet a pair of round violet eyes gazing up at him in reproach.

"Please, don't." Yuugi beseeched, and turned away, desperate to join the friends assembled around the fallen Jounouchi. Kaiba's gaze darted from Yuugi to Anzu, weeping in silence in the haven of Otogi's arms. It was the first time that he realized his arrogance would win him no favors...and truly, the first time he'd been forced to consider it. Edgy silence stretched between the two boys, until Duke, sensing Kaiba's obvious discomfort, offered a tentative smile.

Kaiba turned away. The dock a few dozen feet away was empty.

He was better off alone.

* * *

_"Then get me out of here." the blond was on his feet again in a second, never one for asking questions when action suited better. He winced. The injuries done him by Malik's unique form of torture had transformed his 'body' into one long ache._

_Yami made a quelling motion with his hands. _**"It's not that easy. You have to want to be free, before you can escape."**

_"But I do want out of here!" the other protested, eyes wide with disbelief. "I want to save Yuugi before Malik..."_

**"Yuugi is fine. For now, Malik has been defeated."**

_"Without me?"_

**"Yes."**

_Jounouchi was silent for a long moment, before he struck out wildly at the walls that held him captive, howling as new pain shot through his knuckles and zinged up the clenched muscles of his arms. "He was in danger, they were _all_ in danger...because of me. And I couldn't even save... even...save..." His forehead thudded against the cool, thick stone, and the tears that had only minutes ago threatened to fall were back, twofold. _

_Hands touched his shoulders, and gripped, and warm power coursed through Jounouchi's body, momentarily distracting him from the seemingly endless pain. Yami pried him away from the wall, and with a strangled sob, the other boy turned and wrapped his arms about the spirit's neck._

**"Shh..." **_Yami soothed, with a hushed whisper that was nowhere and everywhere at once, and reverberated against the walls even in its quiet tone. _**"None of this is your fault. Stop blaming yourself."**

_"I'm not strong enough...I've never been strong enough...I can't even save my own friends..."_

**"Rare is the person on this earth powerful enough to fight free of Malik's power even for a moment."**_ Greatly daring, Yami reached out and stroked Jonouchi's hair. _**"That you could push him aside long enough to try to rescue your friends speaks of a greater power than even he can comprehend. You are not expected to save everyone alone...not even I can do it alone."**

_This was obviously a painful admission for the spirit, and Jounouchi drew back, rubbing in frustration at his own eyes. "But..."_

**"There isn't a 'but,' Jou."**_ With reluctance, Yami released him. _**"All you can do is your best. Yuugi admires your courage, and your determination. Has there ever been a single time that you took a route because it seemed easier...or because it demanded less of you...?"**

_"I..."_

**"You have the power to defeat this last wall...you have the power...but you lack the will. Why do you fear facing Yuugi?"**

_The realization struck him with the effect of an open-handed slap. "I...I don't know...I..."_

**"Don't lie to me, Jou. This room and my soul-room within the Puzzle are similar. I can hear your innermost thoughts...and if you listen, you could hear mine, as well."**

_Jounouchi recoiled, and stared at him in shock. Yami's returning stare was calm, and utterly devoid of the feelings that roiled and seethed behind them. Feelings that the other could hear...faint at first, and then with more clarity as he truly gave pause to listen._

_Fear, and a soul-deep ache of loss that went beyond any Jounouchi had ever experienced...loss that transcended even the feelings from the day he and Shizuka had been parted. Anger and frustration warred with each other, as well as hope and courage so fierce that its power made him flinch away in reflex._

_He did not dare look at his own meager store of strength, after being faced with such a core of faith and will. _

**"Admit to yourself what it is you fear."**

_"I can't!"_

* * *

"Nngh..." Jounouchi tossed his head and moaned distantly in denial. Mai's heart clenched, and quickly, she shifted until she and Shizuka both shared the weight of the unconscious duelist's torso. Shizuka smiled tightly towards the older girl, and Mai found herself returning the gesture, as Jonouchi's head lolled into her lap. Trembling fingers laced through his hair, and in eyeblinks, Yuugi knelt beside her. "You said he was all right."

"I lied. I'm sorry."

Two pairs of lavender eyes flickered from each other to the blond's fallen form and back. "It's okay."

Jounouchi's body shivered, and Honda shucked his jacket to drape over his comrade's chest. The others made room for him in their small, horrified circle, and he knelt as well, awful sorrow and disbelief coloring his otherwise cheerful brown eyes.

An expression shared by the others. They were merely spectators in a game that for once, everyone was helpless to win.

* * *

**"Stop hiding from yourself! When will you face your fear?"**

_"You don't understand!" Jounouchi retorted, lashing out against the agonizing calm visage of the man who held him captive. "How can you understand?! You don't fail at _anything_! You have courage for everyone...and somehow, you don't lose! It won't matter if I told you! You don't know what it's like..." His shoulders trembled. Admitting his own faults to Yami was like confessing to God. He felt small...childish...and utterly foolish in the face of this greatness. Yami was always there for Yuugi. He was the embodiment of strength. He could...he _would_ laugh at someone else's fears._

_Yami handed him a measuring look, and had to smile. His own hikari often protested the same thing...but slowly, the spirit had proven those accusations false. Yuugi and Jou were so much alike at heart._

**"Do you think that somehow, because of what I am, that I do not fear? Jou...I fear for Yuugi every day that he must continue to face Malik and his Rare Hunters. I fear for you...for Anzu...for Honda and all of your friends for the risk that knowing me has caused. It is..." **_He swallowed hard, _**"It is MY fault that you are all in danger. Malik's lust for the Millenium Puzzle and the power it can wield is what drives his pursuit. Do you not think that weighs heavily on my mind? And again and again, I have nearly failed you all. First when we fought the dark soul inhabiting Bakura's Millenium Ring. Again when Pegasus almost defeated my hikari and I in a duel..."**

_"Hikari?"_

**"Don't interrupt,"**_ Yami snapped, and wisely, Jonouchi quieted. _**"There are many times I have been afraid. And without the help of Yuugi and his friends...YOU...I would have failed. I am merely lucky...and I am no more courageous than yourself." **_His eyes darkened, and despite his trust in the spirit, the other boy quailed. _**"I am trapped in this Puzzle because I succeeded. And I succeeded because I failed at the most crucial thing I could have ever done. Do you understand?"**

_Jonouchi didn't...but in the end, it didn't matter. "I don't want to tell Yugi that I failed him," He offered, tentatively, "I don't want to see him hate me because I wasn't strong enough to defeat Malik..."_

**"Then don't..." **_Yami stepped away from his companion, and gestured towards the impenetrable wall. _**"You have not failed...let Yuugi himself show you the way."**_ He reached for Jounouchi's hands, then, and towed him inexorably towards the wall. Inch by inch, the tall youth seemed to melt through it...and it rippled in his passing...until only the fingers interlaced with Jonouchi's remained._

_"I can't...!" Jounouchi panicked, but the other's grip did not yield._

**"Trust yourself. Trust me. Trust your friends. And trust YUUGI...and you will not fail."**_ The voice boomed from everywhere now, even from within, and at last, Jounouchi gave to the pull and reached for the wall...met resistance...panicked...and forced himself through it with a determination that came from beyond even his comprehension._

_The last thing he was aware of was Yami's approving smile...dazzling his eyes as they were consumed in light._

* * *

"...Yuugi...?"

_- Owari - _


End file.
